<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Togger by Geffbob</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30082041">Togger</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geffbob/pseuds/Geffbob'>Geffbob</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dwarf Culture &amp; Customs, Dwarves, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:20:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,791</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30082041</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geffbob/pseuds/Geffbob</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Togger is a dwarf that finds a surprise on his birthday while he's at work. How will he get out of this situation?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Togger</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Togger got out of bed at 6am sharp, like he does every morning and like he will continue to do until he’s too old to mine anymore. Dwarves are interesting creatures in the sense that they wake up the second the sun touches their faces. Humans usually spend minutes or hours in bed rolling around instead of doing what they’re supposed to do. Dwarves, on the other hand, hate sleeping, you can’t get drunk if you’re asleep. He jumps out of bed, stretches, and gets ready to go. There’s no need to shower, considering that dwarves usually work in sulphur or coal mines, which means upon 10 seconds of entering the mine they’re already smelling like something awful. This will be Togger’s 500</span>
  <span>th</span>
  <span> day at the mine starting today, and he’s excited to see what will happen.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>On his way out of his house and to the mine, he runs into an old friend of his, Jhonny, a human. Normally humans are a rare sight in a dwarven village, but Jhonny is different. He’s part of the Adventure’s Guild, which means he’s probably down here in the dwarven capital to collect a bounty. “What the bloody hell are you doing here you pink looking bastard?” Togger shouts; (as far as Dwarven culture is concerned, that is one of the politest ways a Dwarf would greet a human). “Not much mate. Just came to turn in something” Jhonny replies. He holds up a brown leather sack containing something that’s round, pointy, hard and clearly bleeding. It’s tightly bound together with string at the top and there’s some flies buzzing around it. Considering Jhonny is a certified monster hunter, Jhonny hazards a guess as to what it could be. “Is that the soddin’ goblin leader that’s been nicking sheep?” “yep! I’ll be seeing you”- Jhonny shouts, briskly walking away. “Typical human” Togger thinks “always in a fekkin’ rush”.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Upon reaching the mine, Togger is greeted with a small surprise coming from the mouth of the mine; “HAPPY 500</span>
  <span>TH</span>
  <span> VISIT YOU OLD SOD!” -Shout 1000 workers in unison. Dwarves are known for being in sync with many things, shouting absurdities at other Dwarves is one of them. “SHUT IT YA PACK OF WILD ANIMALS, DGARD OV NON REKKEN” he shouts down the mineshaft, which I shall not translate as humans should try their hardest not to learn Dwarven insults. “Sodding heck lad” says the senior manager, slowly exiting the shaft’s head and walking towards him, “you’ve really been here 500 times?” “yep” Togger replies “now, could you sod off cause I’ve got a lot to do and your daft expression is slowing me down” (insubordination is not a word in the Dwarven dictionary). The senior manager chuckles and moves out of the way. Togger walks forward, grabs a pickaxe off the rack and heads down the dark mine.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Dwarven mines are a sight to behold, but only if you can see in the dark (which Dwarves can). They’re massive, known for being bigger than most cities. This mine in particular is over 5km in circumference- quite small as far as most mines are concerned, 5km of hollowed out ground in which thousands of workers come to extract minerals and materials. The mine is littered with support beams holding up the earth, either natural beams that were excavated around or metal beams that were transported inside. Stairwells and paths are jotted everywhere, seemingly at random but are clearly labelled as to not get lost. The main pathway (the one Togger is walking on) splits off into many different directions, all leading to different areas. Some paths lead to a hollowed-out part of the wall, which is used as break rooms, offices, med bays etc, other paths lead up or down to places with high concentration of minerals where miners usually work. Some paths lead to black stairwells which take you down to the excavation site, a place where gigantic drills smash up rocks at the bottom of the hollowed-out mine, looking for rare materials or oil. The drills are lava proof- obviously. Togger takes the 6</span>
  <span>th</span>
  <span> pathway he sees, which leads him down a 45-degree angle to the right, where a small hollowed cave section awaits him, with 30 dwarves in there, looking right terrified.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“what are you lads and lassies waiting for? We got a quota to take care of and I’m not about to miss it!” barks Togger (he’s not a manager, just likes yelling). “Look Tog mate, happy 500</span>
  <span>th</span>
  <span> and all, but we’ve got a problem. Some rockmanti (mantises made of rocks) have taken up residence in the space below, they’ve got their greasy claws on a bunch of sapphires down there”. Togger looks at them in surprise, rockmanti don’t usually come this close to the surface, and they certainly don’t go after sapphires, one of the worst tasting gems out there, unless they’re absolutely starving.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Odd” replies Togger “rockmanti don’t usually nab sapphires, they’re more into hard diamonds or emeralds. “Yeah” replies the frightened dwarf, “that’s why we’re scared. If they’re hungry enough to be going after sapphires, then they’re hungry enough to attack anything that gets close”. Togger looks closely at the dwarf in front of him. A dwarf about 1m tall with bright green eyes, loose fitting overalls and an assortment of grease and tools over their body. This dwarf is around 90-100 years old (Dwarves live to 200 years on average) and has a long 70cm bushy brown beard, put into braids. Female.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“HELP!” shouts someone a few hundred meters down the hole. The group look up as they see a stubby human running towards them. Humans aren’t commonly found in dwarven mines, but this one is well known. He’s Bob, an exiled human, forbidden to ever enter a human settlement again, exiled humans usually work in other race’s settlements as they cannot work for humans again. Humans are terrible workers, but they’re adaptable and mostly immune to poisonous mine gasses. Also, they’re expendable. “THEY’VE GOT JIMMY”. Togger widens his eyes, Jimmy, a young git, got himself in hot water again. Togger picks up his pickaxe and draws a dagger, seemingly out of nowhere, and heads down the hole.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“GET OFF ME FEKKING LEG” shouts Jimmy, screaming in pain. The rockmanti have him in a corner and are stabbing at him. As Togger bursts into the dark opening, he sees what he expected. 7 manti, all about 1.5m tall, 2m when standing on hind legs. Grey and coated in a hard rock-like exoskeleton (hence the name, rockmanti). 4 of them are eating blue gems, chomping them down with sharp hard teeth. The other 3 are surrounding Jim, who’s lying in the corner in a pool of blood. One of his arms lies a few meters away from him, clearly torn off his body by something a lot stronger than him. He wastes no time, he quickly jumps towards the closest one, swinging his pick over his head vigorously into the head of it, smashing it into pieces, causing blood, sapphire and rocks to splatter into the ground. The second and third manti lunge towards him, trying to bite off his arms. Togger swings in a full 360-degree fashion, knocking 2 legs off the second one and smashing the third one against the wall. The other manti notice his presence and start heading towards him, snarling and spitting. Togger deftly avoids the spit and stabs the 4</span>
  <span>th</span>
  <span> one in his thorax with the dagger, smashing the thorax into bits. The 5</span>
  <span>th</span>
  <span> and 6</span>
  <span>th</span>
  <span> manti swing wildly at Togger, but he rolls underneath their claws and breaks his pickaxe over the head of the 5</span>
  <span>th</span>
  <span> one and throws his dagger at the 6</span>
  <span>th</span>
  <span>, impaling it against the wall. However, suddenly, he feels a sharp pain in his lower back.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“DGARTH” he shouts and spins to see what struck him. The 7</span>
  <span>th</span>
  <span> mantis, which he didn’t see before, had snuck behind them and had bitten off a small chunk of flesh from his bottom. Looking at the mantis dead in the eyes, he notices that his pick is smashed to bits and his dagger is about 10m away, perforating the wall and the head of a rock mantis, unusable. The mantis shrieks at him and lunges, aiming for the neck. Togger has no choice, he closes his eyes, raises his hands, and mumbles an incarnation. “hun got yeth no wor dem ya” he whispers, pointing his empty palm at the mantis, opening his eyes, suddenly full of magic, and shoots. A fireball slams into the face of the mantis, melting off its flesh and burning the inside of the brains to a black crisp. The impact launches the mantis a few meters off the ground and into the open hallway. Retrieving his dagger, he runs over to Jimmy, who’s suddenly gone quiet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dgarth” he whispers again, and launches another, smaller, fireball down the hallway. Which explodes at the end like a flare, a sign for medical aid. Within 2 minutes, a team of dwarven doctors come and pick up Jim and his arm. Leading him towards the med bay. Togger follows them up to the surface and makes sure nothing follows them. Before he loses sight of him in the ambulance, Jimmy opens his eyes, and whispers “thank you”.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Togger spent the rest of the day receiving praise from his peers, all dwarves can use magic, but only a few of them can use combat magic. The majority just use magic to carve rocks out, not attack other creatures. After 10 minutes he got fed up and yelled to be left alone, this request being ignored completely. After an hour, he started feeling dizzy and decided to cut the rest of the day short. He headed out of the mine, past the showers (where he received a brief 10 second squirt down by a young dwarf with a hose) and into town. Stopping at the nearest bar, he spent the rest of the day drunk before heading home. Dwarves don’t get drunk to hide emotions; they mostly get drunk to think about things. He didn’t want others to know that he was in the army, he just wanted to be left alone to smash rocks to bits. Upon arriving home, he notices a card in his letterbox. “Oi Togger” it begins “Jim here. Cheers, don’t worry, we already knew you were an army nut, nobody else would head towards 7 rockmanti without hesitation and even less would rescue me. If you don’t want people to say anything, they won’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Smiling, Togger heads inside, turns on the telly, pours himself a scotch, and spends the rest of the night watching anime.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>